Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device 100 according to the conventional art is shown. The electronic device 100 may be a desktop computer, laptop computer, palm-sized computer, tablet computer, game console, personal entertainment center, media center PC, cellular telephone, PDA or other portable wireless appliance, computer based simulator, or the like. As depicted in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 includes a plurality of various communication connectors 105-150. The various communication connectors 105-150 are utilized to attach various peripheral components to the device 100. The peripheral components may include speakers, microphones, networks, monitors, printers, keyboards, pointing devices and/or the like. For example, one or more communication connectors (e.g., audio jacks 120-130) may be utilized to connect peripheral components such as speakers and/or microphones to the device.
Referring now to FIG. 2, an audio jack 200 according to the conventional art is shown. As depicted in FIG. 2, the audio jack 200 includes an insulating housing 210-215, and a plurality of interconnects 220-230. The insulating housing 210-215 includes a body portion 210 and a head portion 215. A cylindrical opening 235, for removably receiving a plug connector, extends through the head portion 215 and into the body portion 210. The interconnects 220-230 each include a terminal portion and a contact portion. The contact portion may be a resilient conductive element disposed in the cylindrical opening. The contact portion engages a particular portion of the audio plug when inserted into the cylindrical opening. The terminal portion is a conductive element for fixedly attaching the audio jack 200 to a device.
Referring again to FIG. 1, it may be necessary to add communication connectors 140-150 to the device to allow additional peripheral components to be connected to a given device 100. For example, a Sony-Phillips Digital Input/Output (S/PDIO) adapter may be added to a computer to support surround sound audio output. The S/PDIO adapter typically consumes a Peripheral Component Interface (PCI) slot in the computer system-Thus, the additional communication connectors 140-150 consume a significant amount of available area in the computer system. The additional communication connectors 140-150 also increase the cost of the computer system.
Typically, conventional communication connectors 105-150 are pre-colored depending upon the functional connection (e.g., line-out, line-in, mic-in). For example, a conventional computer system typically has three jacks 120-130 providing a line-out connection, a line-in correction and a mic-in connection. The line-out is typically utilized to provide left and right audio output channels to drive a set of speakers. The line-in connection is typically utilized to receive data from peripheral devices such as mini disks. The mic-in connection is typically utilized to receive audio input from a microphone The jacks 120-130 providing mic-in, line-out, and line-in functions may be pre-colored red, green and blue respectively. The pre-colored communication connectors 105-150 are intended to simplify connectivity of peripheral components to the device.
In order to reduce the size and/or cost of electronic devices 100, such as computers, game consoles, and personal entertainment centers, it may desirable to reconfigure one or more communication connectors 105-150. However, if one or more of the communication connectors 105-150 are re-configured, the pre-colored communication connectors may no longer correspond to the new communication function provided by the communication connector. Thus, the pre-color communication connectors 105-150 utilized in combination with re-configurability may make connectivity more difficult for users.